Tag Archives: IT Jobs

Fans queued throughout the night just to be in line to buy the computer game Grand Theft Auto V this morning. Some of them took time of work just so they could get their hands on the most expensive game ever made. It was developed by Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland cost £170 million to produce and is expected to have retail sales of £1bn in the first year. The last release was five years ago and the GTA franchise has sold 135 million copies since it was first released in 1997. The figures stack up well when compared to the release of big budget films and the distinction between games and films is increasingly blurred.

Successful big budget console games are still made in the UK by Rockstar and Rocksteady. The UK games industry has had a difficult few years due to competition from Canada and the increase in the use of smart phones by games consumers. There was a modest growth of 4% in 2012 as studios moved away from developing for traditional platforms and embraced web-based digital gaming. It is estimated that over 35 million Britons are regular gamers and that with 30,000 people employed in the industry nationally. Gaming contributes £1bn to the UK GDP

British mobile and social gaming development is rapidly expanding. This opens up the possibility of developing games on smaller budgets and more developers are making games and self publishing and small studios are developing their own projects as well as doing the usual work for the bigger studios on a work for hire basis. Investors are interested once again. There are opportunities in gaming for artists, animators and audio designers, script writers, project managers, distributors, games media, PR, studio management and of course programmers. A variety of programming languages are used with Windows commonly written in C#, Android in Java, and iOS developers using Objective-C.

If you need a visa to work in IT, Engineering, Actuary or Finance Commonwealth Contractors may well be able to help.

” On a smarter planet, we want to change the paradigm from react to anticipate” is the slogan of the IBM Smarter Planet global initiative which was started five years ago. IBM Smarter Cities is part of the smarter planet programme. The video Smarter Planet – a UK Introduction gives an idea of how it may impact on our lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A127XSYwzqY
With the arrival of Big Data, through the use of analytics, mobile technology, social business and the cloud it is now becoming possible to transform how enterprises and institutions operate. The embedding of sensors in cars, roads, cameras, roads, pipelines, appliances is happening and systems are beginning to ‘speak’ to each other which results in the capture of masses of data in backend systems. This data can be mined and analysed and if the queries are structured intelligently should produce information on better ways of doing or organising things.

The IBM Research – Ireland lab is IBM Smarter Cities Technology Centre and conducts research in water, energy, transportation, city fabric, risk, exascale computing, and marine environments in collaboration with top universities, cities, and industry partners. The leading academic institutions involved are Cambridge University, the Australian National University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Trinity College Dublin.

Researchers at NUI Maynooth have received €2.3m of funding for a major five-year project which will analyse how software and technology can influence life in a city. The focus will be on two cities: Dublin and Boston in the US. Boston is ranked number one on a global index of ‘smart’ cities while Dublin is a key technology hub in Europe. The research is funded by a five-year ERC (European Reaserch Council) grant.

Some Findings on Dublin as a Smart City

A 2007 study of traffic congestion revealed that even though small if taken as a percentage of gross domestic product then Dublin was the world leader in this sphere over cities such as Manila, Dakar and Mexico City. The challenge was and still is to maintain the historic fabric of the city and improve the transport network without any major re-development. Dublin City Council has been collecting and analysing data, in partnership with IBM and journey time information is now released and updated every minute.Residents can go online and find the quickest route to their destination. This is just the beginning and eventually people will be updated on problems via their mobiles while on route to their destinations and advice on alternative means of completing their journeys will be given which may be bicycle, tram, taxi or even on foot.

IBM’s vision for water is stated as

Our vision is an intelligent, integrated, and instrumented water system for our cities of the future, where both the quantity and quality of our water resources is constantly being monitored, predicted, and optimized, from rain to drain and back again.

The citizens of Dublin could vouch for the fact that even when there is a strong bond between rain and drain, over a prolonged period of time, that they still have water shortages. A Dublin City report states that 29 percent of the water produced never reaches the consumer due to water leaking from the city’s distribution system. This is due to the age of the network and many of the pipes are in such poor condition that they are prone to bursts, leaks and low water pressure. Replacing the infrastructure is a costly, time-consuming and disruptive especially when streets need to be dug up.

To reduce the amount of water lost Dublin City Council in collaboration with IBM is combining analytics, sensor data, and optimization models to find the best places in the network to install pressure reducing valves. Once installed, the models recommend the best settings to minimize leakage while meeting the requirements of the city. Dublin’s Chapelizod area showed potential to reduce leakage up to 44 percent, allowing water providers to serve 15 percent more households without investment in more production capacity or adversely affecting consumers.

‘Garbage in garbage out’ still holds true so human intelligence is a requirement for digital smartness. There are and will be no shortage of jobs for big data scientists, big data analysts and others but there will be a shortage of suitably qualified people to fill the posts.

Do you need a visa to work in IT, Engineering, Actuary or Finance?

To find out more about our solutions call now on 0800 294 4388 or Submit your Details and we will get right back to you!

Windows 8 presents a radical revamp for the company in its attempt to target the tablet buying market as well as serve its network of traditional PC users. Windows’ president Steven Sinofsky has said that the ‘release preview’ would be the closest yet to the final version (more…)

In order to find an IT Contract in the UK you will probably have to use an IT Job Website. There are many IT Job Websites out there and if you are going to find that perfect contract you need to stay up to date with most of them as contracts come and go quickly.

If you’re a highly skilled expat Contractor and you’re interested in maximising your contract income and working towards a visa extension or visa transfer Commonwealth Contractors can help!

To discuss your situation with an experienced advisor call Commonwealth Contractors now on 0800 294 4388 or Submit your Details and we will get right back to you!

Using IT Job Websites to find Contracts

To find an IT Contract you should;

Search the Job Websites for possible Contracts (detailed below)

Sign up to daily job alerts and notices

Tailor your high impact CV to the specific Contract being advertised and then submit the CV to the Agency posting the Contract

Follow up with a call to the Agency to register a firm interest. Be aware that:

Agencies receive many CVs so to stand out from the crowd you should chase up to improve your chances

Other seasoned Contractors will be calling soon after sending a CV to make sure they get to the top of the pile

You decrease your chances considerably if you only email Clients and then wait for the phone to ring

Keep records on what dates & times you tried to call to speak to an Agent so that you know when to move on

Record details of the Contract & the date / time you submitted your CV (keep a Contract Finding Spreadsheet)

Following a three day global blackout for Blackberry services, Blackberry founder, Mike Lazaridis confirms services are “fully restored”. Millions of customers worldwide had their messaging and email services sporadically disrupted. (more…)

In a statement Nokia said: “Symbian Belle powers all three devices, with single-tap NFC technology for sharing and pairing, the most personal user interface so far and a more powerful mobile web browsing experience”.

The phone maker said the announcement proved the company\’s commitment to Symbian despite its partnership with Microsoft and transition to Windows Phone devices before the end of 2012.
Nokia vice president Ilari Nurmi said, \”Symbian Belle and the three new handsets we are launching today show our commitment to continue delivering Symbian products that allow people to choose what is most important to them in terms of user experience, design, functionality and price. These will not be the last products or updates we will deliver on Symbian.\”

However, Nokia\’s recent financial results showed smartphone sales dropped 32% in the first half of 2011. The firm reported operating losses of €487m (£429m), fuelled by a decline in smartphone sales.

All three new handsets include 1GHz processor, five megapixel camera and 2GB of internal memory. Nokia claims the Nokia 700 is the company\’s smallest and most eco-friendly smartphone. The Nokia 701 is based on the Nokia C7 design and includes a 3.5 inch ClearBlack display and active noise cancellation for better sound quality calls.

Nokia said it plans a series of software updates over the next 12 months. Symbian Belle features NFC support, up to six home screens, live widgets and pull-down menus to access notifications.

CommonwealthContractors

At Commonwealth Contractors we partner with OISC Registered Private
Immigration Firms and Tier 2 Licensed Healthcare and IT Consultancies
who may be prepared, where required, to sponsor an individual on a Tier 2
Visa (formerly UK Work Permit). If you are a highly skilled
International professional and you would like to work in the UK
Commonwealth Contractors can help. Our OISC Registered Partners
specialise in Tier 1 General (formerly Highly Skilled Migrant Programme)
visa applications and can assist those highly skilled individuals that
either wish to apply or extend a Tier 1 General Visa.

For more Information call Commonwealth Contractors now on 0800 294
4388 or Submit your Details and we will get right back to you. Please
see other areas of the Commonwealth Contractors site for interesting
articles on tax, immigration and contracting.

Overall the findings point to a recovery in the UK Economy and the job market as a whole. Companies appear to be cautiously proceeding with projects which were put on hold in 2009 (leading to a greater number of temporary contracts) and are restocking their permanent workforces after cutting back last year. Although the number of placements is increasing the pay rates are still falling although they appear to be nearing the bottom of the curve. Companies know that supply is strong and are unwilling to pay over the odds for professional IT workers.

However, the recovery may fall away slightly in 2010 as the Government (probably Conservative following the General Election later this year) gets to grips with things and scales back significant public sector investment.

Changes to UK Immigration policy may also have an affect. In 2010 the UK Border Agency is expected to reduce the educational requirement of Tier 1 General (formerly HSMP) from a Masters Degree to a Bachelors Degree following positive findings from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). This will result in thousands of new highly skilled workers migrating to the UK and many skilled workers already in the UK on UK Work Permits transferring to Tier 1 General. Many Indian IT professionals in particular with international consultancies such as Tata, Infosys, Wipro etc have sat tight in their seconded roles however many will be looking to move on in 2010. Any increase to the supply of labour will undoubtedly see contract rates and permanent salaries either remain the same or decrease as employers benefit from greater choice.

Overall early 2010 looks very positive for Permanent & Contract recruitment in Information Technology. If you are an International IT professional and you are considering migrating to the UK under Tier 1 General please contact Commonwealth Contractors for detailed information on your individual circumstances.